Local

Gov. Pat Quinn says there is urgency now to passing a same-sex marriage law.

He says with other Midwestern statesallowing same-sex couples to marry, and the federal government recognizing these, couples in states that don’t allow it are being shorted.

“And there is in the Midwest a situation now where some states – folks in Minnesota and Iowa, for example –have more rights than folks in our state or in Wisconsin, and I think we need to even the playing field,” he said.

The same-sex marriage measured passed the Illinois Senate last winter but it was not brought up for a vote in the House because the sponsor did not have the votes to pass it. Quinn says he and advocates are still pushing.

At the same time, litigation on the issue is going through pre-trial motions, with several county clerks backed by the Thomas More Society defending the state’s current ban on same-sex marriage.